With 50 days left until the St. Thomas football team officially kicks off its 2013 season, the Tommies have already made a name for themselves in two national preseason polls.
St. Thomas’ football program raked in No. 2 rankings from both d3football.com and USA Today’s preview, the highest ranking for the Tommies in d3football.com’s 13-year polling history. This is the 44th consecutive poll placing the Tommies, who finished last season 14-1, in the top 10.
D3football.com also named linebacker Tremayne Williams and punter Garrett Maloney preseason All-American. 
Coach Glenn Caruso pumps up the St. Thomas football team minutes before kickoff Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012 in its semifinal game against Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The Tommies earned the No. 2 spot in two 2013 preseason polls Thursday. (Rosie Murphy/TommieMedia)
Running back Brenton Braddock said it’s nice to see people have faith in his team from the start, but there’s a different ranking that’s more important to the players.
“The ranking at the end of the season means the world to us … we can’t really take what the ranking is at the beginning of the season and put too much faith in it.”
The preseason rankings tell a similar story for quarterback Matt O’Connell.
“We would prepare and begin the season the same way, whether we’re ranked as one of the top two teams or one of the bottom two teams,” O’Connell said.
In both polls, St. Thomas trails No. 1-ranked Mount Union, the team that put an end to the Tommies’ national championship dreams in the 2012 Stagg Bowl.
The Tommies’ sole conference opponent making an appearance in the preseason top 10 is Bethel, ranked No. 6 by USA Today and No. 8 by d3football.com. The Royals received an at-large bid to the 2012 NCAA playoffs but fell 37-14 to Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the second round.
Although St. Thomas graduated All-Americans Ayo Idowu, Curtis James and Chinni Oji from its 2012 team, starters return at 17 of 22 positions including O’Connell, Braddock, Williams and Maloney.
“It’s a new season and a new team with guys very excited and prepared to step into those roles,” O’Connell said.
Braddock said the returning players have been holding captains’ practices about twice a week along with some of the freshmen recruits living in the metro area.
“The guys are working really hard this summer in the weight room, on the field, just really putting their hours in and trying to be the best team we can be,” Braddock said.
St. Thomas is four weeks out from fall camp where the team will begin preparing for its season-opener Saturday, Sept. 7 at home against Wisconsin-Eau Claire; the start of a season that Braddock said will revolve around one of the only things the team can really control.
“We can’t focus on the team we’re going to play. We don’t have any control over that,” he said. “We can’t focus on the (referees), we can’t focus on the crowd or anything. It’s really … just continuing to play within ourselves and be the best us’s we can be.”
Briggs LeSavage can be reached at lesa4364@stthomas.edu.